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“It’s an open field right now,” said Jamie Masada, founder and owner of the Laugh Factory clubs in Chicago and southern California, noting he’s seen a tremendous uptick in political comedy lately.

Masada told POLITICO that of the 20 comedians who performed at a recent open-mic night in Chicago, “16 of them were talking about political comedy. About Obama. About Romney.”

“I’ve never seen that much,” he said. “It was amazing to see that many comedians talk about it. I was kind of surprised myself.”

Why? Part of the reason, according to those in the industry, is that round-the-clock cable news and the Internet’s insatiable appetite for fresh — and often controversial — content can provide comedians with a quick fix of the very thing that stand-ups seek: Exposure.

“They’re getting picked up because it’s 24 hours of cable that needs to be filled,” said Lewis Black, a comedian whose angry rants on “The Daily Show” have helped make him a household name. “I think it’s a fertile time because, in part, in order to get noticed, outrageousness is … more important at times than what you say. ‘Can you believe he said that?!?’ That is that quality of outrageousness that sells.”

Jon Lovitz, a former “Saturday Night Live” cast member not known for his political humor, provided a fresh example recently when, despite being a Democrat, he called President Barack Obama a “f—king a—hole” for his tax policy.

His cutting remarks earned him television appearances on Fox News and CNN, among others. Lovitz used an interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan to tout all sorts of projects, prompting the host to interject, “Are you just trying to win the record for the most plugs in one minute?” According to a LexisNexis search, Lovitz had more media mentions in the month following his off-color remarks about Obama than he did in the previous four months and online searches for his name surged.

As Breitbart.com wrote, “Lovitz isn’t wanting for work these days, and he says his recent publicity hasn’t hurt that.”

Former MTV personality Pauly Shore, another comic not known for Washington humor, jumped on the political bandwagon this year — albeit less controversially — with “Pauly-Tics,” a Showtime special in Washington, D.C., that featured interviews with Michael Steele and Ralph Nader.

And Roseanne Barr, star of the ’90s sitcom “Roseanne,” has inserted herself into the 2012 campaign, losing her Green Party bid before earning a presidential nomination from the Peace and Freedom Party.

Readers' Comments (67)

I commend Bill O'Reilly for agreeing to what will essentially be a comedy debate with Jon Stewart. Unfortunately the only real conservative comic is Dennis Miller. I'd like to see a comic debate between Miller and Maher.

DGMSaints, the persuasive power of perjorative words like "moron" and "ass" is minimal. Words like that only serve to highlight your personal biases. By the way, are you planning to show up in the Politico Forums when your candidate loses on Election Night? Please consider this a personal invitation. Don't disappear or crawl under a rock. Please show up and spew all the vitriol you can muster, okay?

That's true Jack. For an improvised act, Eastwood did a pretty good job. Of course the time and place was completely wrong and he stepped all over the headliner, but Clint has nothing to be ashamed of. (By the way, after Romney's 47% remarks, its rumored that Clint will be endorsing the empty chair!)

Masada is either too young to comment on the Chicago "Council Wars" comedy skits, or/and Gavin is showing his past employer Brookings' liberal tilt. This is a shoddy headline op by Politico as a space-filler.

Because anything relating to NEWS is not being discussed and published among the MSM/Liberal Elite Editors.

So, basically, we've been living a make believe existence for almost 4 years now.

I built that, I very much intend to keep it instead of watching some bureaucrat give it to someone who didnt earn it and doesnt respect it, therefore Im voting against the Fundamental Socialists Hope and Change.

NAFTA sent 82% Manufacturing jobs out of USA. This means 82% are not 'making' a product.

But these 'jokers' have manufactured nothing, except words, phrases, with appllause lines.

They make nothing... just like former NAFTA casualities make 'nothing.

It's all about nothing.. nothing of substance, but a great circus chock-full of laugh lines, duper red-herrings, a compliant MSM that's structurally organized to repeat the 'dupe'.. repeat the fake.. Just like Herman Goering stated so very well. If Ye not know his quote about galvanizing people around a big lie, why not take the time to discover.

Perhaps You are young... i.e. not retired..When will You 'let-em'know' that You know WHAT they're a-doin'? When? Why not now? Who is restricting you to find the fine line? You or Them? Hehe!

Just DEAUX it! Let 'em know that You've a mind that see's through the 'dupe'?

Barack Obama is a " f...king A..hole" Now there is some first class, top notch, laugh a minute comedy. I bet he had em rolling in the isles with that funny routine. I guess F.... is a guaranteed laugh now days.(especially when used by the "ladies". I'm sure the actually funny comedians of yesteryear are spinning in their graves.

"We all know how the success of shows like “The Colbert Report,” “Real Time with Bill Maher,” and “The Daily Show” have made political comedy cool again." We also know that Dennis Miller doesn't belong on the same stage, he and Rush are simply off the deep end right wing goofballs. I'm very happy to see Bill O'Reilly in the comedy arena, as that's where his "fair and balanced" truely belongs.